Wednesday, 5 July 2017

England vs South Africa

England last played test cricket way back in December, after the 4-0 loss to India I unwisely picked an XI for the first test this summer;Cook, Hameed, Jennings, Root, Ali, Stokes, Bairstow, Woakes, Rashid, Broad, AndersonAt the moment Woakes in injured and Hameed out of nick but the rest of that XI has been performing well in whatever competition they happened to be playing in. If there's a bowling place up for grabs Wood and Plunkett could get a call or maybe the Yorkshire youngster Ben Coad?Gary Ballance has scored loads of runs this year but surely he won't get yet another chance?The team was announced this morning and eight of the players I nominated in December will play. Woakes is injured and Mark Wood comes into the side. Hameed is out of form so Ballance has got another chance, he's a lucky man. I can't believe Adil Rashid has been left out with Dawson preferred!!

England have picked two spinners for the Lords test which definitely took a bit of spin for the one day final last week. We also have four seamers making six bowlers and we bat all the way down. We have plenty of good players in and around this team. Alex Hales looked brilliant at Lords last week and must play test cricket again soon. Woakes is starting to look like a top class bowling all rounder and will come back soon. Hameed is made to open in test cricket. The future is bright and it starts with a test series win over South Africa over the next few weeks!